Railroad track profile spacing and alignment apparatus
First Claim
1. In combination with a track rail with an upper section having a top and side surface on which the wheel of a railroad car rolls, a railroad car mounted for rolling movement on said track rails, the improvement in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:
- image projection means for focusing the image of a light source on said side surface of said rail, reflected light image responsive means upon which the reflected diffuse light image is to be directed, and reflected diffuse light image receiving means for receiving the diffuse image reflected from said rail surface, said diffuse light image receiving means including means for focusing said reflected diffuse image onto said light image responsive means, the position of the focussed reflected diffuse light image on said reflected light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, and means supporting said image projection means and image receiving means relative to one another and said surface wherein the axis along which said image is focussed on said rail surface and the axis along which said image receiving means receives a focussed diffuse reflected image for said rail surface are in a plane making an oblique angle to said surface and extending longitudinally of said track.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for sensing the profile, spacing and/or alignment of railroad tracks comprising one or more assemblies or pairs of range sensor units, preferably at least one directing a light image upon the top surface of a track rail and at least one directing a similar light image on the lateral side surface of the track rail. Each of the range sensor units includes optical sensing means positioned for receiving only the diffused image reflected upon the associated rail surface along a given axis making preferably a substantial angle to the axis along which the light image is directed upon the rail surface. The axes preferably lie in a plane extending longitudinally of the rail and make a substantial angle to both the vertical and horizontal planes. One or more pairs of range sensor units like that referred to which direct light images on the top and side surfaces of the same rail are preferably enclosed in a common sealed housing having windows for receiving respectively the projected and reflected light images directed upon and reflected from the top and side rail surfaces. A shield which is preferably provided which shields the range sensor units from appreciable stray light, dirt and the like.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. In combination with a track rail with an upper section having a top and side surface on which the wheel of a railroad car rolls, a railroad car mounted for rolling movement on said track rails, the improvement in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:
- image projection means for focusing the image of a light source on said side surface of said rail, reflected light image responsive means upon which the reflected diffuse light image is to be directed, and reflected diffuse light image receiving means for receiving the diffuse image reflected from said rail surface, said diffuse light image receiving means including means for focusing said reflected diffuse image onto said light image responsive means, the position of the focussed reflected diffuse light image on said reflected light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, and means supporting said image projection means and image receiving means relative to one another and said surface wherein the axis along which said image is focussed on said rail surface and the axis along which said image receiving means receives a focussed diffuse reflected image for said rail surface are in a plane making an oblique angle to said surface and extending longitudinally of said track.
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2. In combination with a rail along which a railroad car or the like moves and having a light reflecting planar surface and a railroad car mounted for movement along said rail, the improvement in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:
- image projection means for focusing the image of a light source on said rail, light image responsive means upon which a focussed reflected image is to be directed, diffuse reflected light image receiving means including reflected image focusing means for receiving the image reflected from said rail surface and for focusing the rail reflected image onto said reflected light image responsive means, the position of the focussed diffuse light image on said light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, and means supporting said image projection means and image receiving means relative to one another and said surface wherein the axis along which said image is focussed on said rail surface and the axis along which said image receiving means receives a focussed diffuse reflected image from said rail surface are in a plane making an oblique angle to said surface.
- View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In combination with a track rail with an upper section having top and side surfaces on which the wheel of a railroad car rolls a railroad car mounted for rolling movement on said track rail, the improvement in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:
- image projection means for focusing the image of a light source and directing the same along a first given axis intersecting said top surface of said rail reflected light image responsive means upon which a reflected image is to be directed, and reflected light image receiving means including reflected image focusing means for receiving the image reflected from said rail surface along an optical axis making an angle to said first given axis and intersecting the same at or near said rail surface, and for focusing the rail reflected image onto said reflected light image responsive means, the position of the reflected light on said reflected light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, additional range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car including second image projection means for focusing the image of a light sources and directing the same along a third given axis intersecting said side surface of said rail, second reflected light image responsive means, second reflected light image receiving means including second reflected image focusing means for receiving the image reflected from said side rail surface along a fourth axis making an angle to said third given axis and intersecting the same at or near said rail surface, and for focusing the side rail surface reflected image onto said second reflected light image responsive means, the position of the side rail surface reflected light on said second reflected light image resonsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said side rail surface, and said first given axis and said optical axis being in a plane extending longitudinally of said track.
- View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. Range sensor apparatus for measuring distance variations to a surface between given minimum and maximum limits, said apparatus comprising:
- projection means for focusing the image of a light source at or adjacent to said surface along a projection axis, the focussed image having its maximum or near maximum sharpness at said surface when the spacing between said range sensor apparatus and said surface is at or adjacent to one of said limits; and
optical sensing means for receiving the image reflected from said surface along an optical axis making a given angle to said first given axis and intersecting the same at or near said surface, said optical sensing means including focusing means for focusing said reflected image of the light source onto a projection plane where the light image has a miximum or near maximum sharpness when the spacing between said range sensor apparatus and said surface is at or adjacent the other of said limits, an array of light responsive means mounted on said projection plane positioned so that different ones of the light responsive means are struck by the focused light image as the spacing between said image projection means and said surface varies over given limits, each of said light responsive means producing a given signal output when said light image impinges thereon. - View Dependent Claims (14)
- projection means for focusing the image of a light source at or adjacent to said surface along a projection axis, the focussed image having its maximum or near maximum sharpness at said surface when the spacing between said range sensor apparatus and said surface is at or adjacent to one of said limits; and
- 15. Apparatus for measuring the distance between a given point on a railroad car and the top and lateral side surfaces of a rail upon which the railroad car is mounted for rolling movement, said apparatus comprising first and second range sensor units mounted on a common frame, one of the range sensor units including image projection means for focusing a light image upon the top surface of said rail along a first given axis and the other range sensor unit including image projection means for focusing a light image upon the lateral side surface of said rail along a second given axis, said range sensor units including respectively reflected light image receiving means for receiving the associated reflected images along third and fourth given axes respectively making a substantial angle with said associated first and second given axes and intersecting the same at or near the associated top and lateral side surfaces of the rail, each of said reflected light image receiving means having focusing means for focusing the associated reflected image upon a projection plane, and light responsive means on each of said projection planes arranged so that the particular portion of the light responsive means struck by the light image projected on said projection plane varies with the spacing between the range sensor unit involved and the related top or lateral side rail surface.
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18. In combination with a railroad car mounted for movement along a track, the improvement along in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:
- image projection means for focusing the image of a light source and directing the same along a first given axis intersecting a surface of said rail, light image responsive means upon which a reflected image is to be directed, reflected light image receiving means including reflected image focusing means for receiving the image reflected from said rail surface along an optical axis making an angle to said first given axis and intersecting the same at or near said rail surface, and for focusing the rail reflected image onto said reflected light image responsive means, the position of the reflected light on said reflected light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, and said projection means focusing said light image at or near one limit of the range variation to be covered by the angle sensor apparatus and said reflected image focusing means focusing said light source image on said reflected light image responsive means at or near the other limit of said range variation.
Specification